Cakes Da Killa: A Queer Rapper Who’s Horny and Awesome

There’s an entire underground of queer rappers who are destroying the “straight, male, and angry” paradigm of hip-hop. These rappers are queer, horny, funny, sonically adventurous, and really different from each other. Details profiled several of them last fall, and all of them have a distinct persona, style, and sound. The only thing that unites them, really, is how disinterested they are in being straight.

For me, Cakes Da Killa is the most essential artist in this group. That’s partially because his music is the most accessible to me: His flow is loud, sassy, and laid-back. His rhymes are witty, and his beats are catchy, often using vintage horn loops or, like, extended Donna Summer samples. To my ears—and by that, I mean “the ears of a guy who typically likes suburban-friendly rap”—it doesn’t take a lot of effort to grasp why he’s amazing.

And even better: Cakes Da Killa is really, really gay. He pretty much raps about nasty gay sex all the time. And you know what? Good. I’m absolutely in favor of uplifting anthems and political thought, but sometimes, I just want to laugh and/or bounce my head to some freaky mess about dudes getting down. Gay sex is a part of gay life, so why not celebrate it through unapologetically confident, horny music?

In a world where mainstream gay artists and gay characters typically don’t seem to have any genitals—hello Modern Family and Kinky Boots—it’s pretty damn refreshing to hear about gay lust. Because you know what? That happens too. And by talking about it, Cakes Da Killa is creating his own kind of revolution. He might make straight people uncomfortable—or some gay people—but he’s at least owning the sex in his sexuality. (I might feel differently about this if there weren’t a wider variety of gay characters and gay artists to balance out the picture, but there are. If I want love or romance or politics or history, I can go elsewhere.)

Here’s Cakes Da Killa’s latest mixtape, The Eulogy. But make sure you watch the video for “Goodie Goodies.” It pretty much sums up the man’s queer-ass, genderfuck awesomeness.